Track-laying apparatus.



R. c. SPANDAU. TRACK LAYING APPARATUS. APPLIOATION FILED MAY 5; 1908.

Patented Oct. 12, 1909.

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WITNESSES: v V O ATTORNEY R. '0. SPANDAU.

TRAGKLAYING APPARATUS. APPLICATION FILED MAY 5. 1908.

Patented Oct. 12,1909.

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- as the spikes, have been driven 'pneuniatically actuated and heads movable 'ertlcally at opposit e d The "PATENT RIQHABD c. seminary, or nan'virinn, strainers, essrenoa or one-Terran are newer: is. reset, or nanvitnn, initiators, aim ens-rerun so snnnnnicir sessions, or

fil'lN'VLIILLE, ILLINOIS.

Essen- AYING arrannrns.

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' Application filed Ellay 5, 1998. Serial Elo. $30,957.

To all whom 'it may concern:

lie it known that l, llionAno C. SrANDL-iU, a citizen of the United States, residing at Danville, in the county of Vermilion and State of Illinois, have invented certain new.

and useful Improvements in -TrackLaying Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention is directed to the provision is of an improved form oftrack-layinglappa ratus, whereby the tracks for railway trains may be laid rapidly and at considerably reduced expense.

The invention involves the provision of a truck adapted to run on the rails laid and carrying the apparatus which. is employed this including gaging devices for positioning the rails at the proper distance apart, means for lifting the ties into solid contact with the bottom surfaces of the rails spikeeholders for holding the spikes in position. pneumatic hammers for-driving; the spikes, and means for raising and lowering these hammers.

The pneumatic hammers 5 spike-holders to inoperative, position is 'ef- 'fected automatically as the hammers are lowered, this movement taking placeas soon into the ties far enough to hold them in position and re 4 sulting in moving: the holders to such posi tion that new spikes may be inserted therein While the ones formerly held thereby are being driven into positio llifting the ties against the rails is preferably includes cross of the truck and each having a pair of grablevers pivotally mounted thereon and adapted of the apparatus Will] the air. connections illustrated dis 7 are preferably. arranged for vertical movement in suitable The means for 2.0 of each holder preferred embodiment of my inven' devices; and Figs. at and 5 are detail views of the spike-holders andhammers.

Referring-to the drawiuigs the apparatus consists of a truck ha ting side-frames l and 2 connected by suitable cross-brnees-l, axles 'lnounted for rotation in suitable hearings formed in the side-frames. and wheels 5 on these axles. lfixtending across the truck and secured upon the side-frames, is a bolster or support e uponwhich most of the operating devices are mounted. lneunmtically-oper- 'ated hanuners Z of any suitable construction are mounted upon the support 6 and arrangedfor vertical movement thereoin this being done preferably by providing vertirally-disposed grooves in the support e; in which the hammers fit, and cover-plates 5:3 secured to the support 6 for maintaining the hammers in these grooves and guiding them in their vertical movement. Preferably a pair of hammers I is employed at each side of the'truck, so that two spikes for each rail may be driven simultaneously., one on either side of the rail, and these .two hannners are displaced somewhat in the direction of the length of the truck so that the two spikes are not directly opposite each other. The hammers of each pair are secured at their upper ends to a cross-head 9 connected by a link 10 to a lever ll which is pivotally mounted :upon a stez'idard 12 secured upon the support (3. The adjacent ends of the two lovers ll enter between collars 13 upon a piston-rod 14 on which is secured a piston adapted to reciprocate H1 a cylinder 15, this cylinder being mounted upon standards It? rising from the support 6. I

Mounted upon'the support 6 at each side of the truck are a pair of hearing-blocks l? .in which a shaft 18 is mounted for rotation.

Secured on this shaft are two spikeholders 19, which extend downwardly from shaft 18 and at their lower ends are provided with .ofi'set portions 20 adapted to entc'ndunder the hammers 7. In the .end of the portion I is it:VBItlCal-lY CllQPOSBd groove adapted to receive .a spike, and e Hate21' is pivotally mounted upon the end of each holder for retaining a spike in. the groove. this gate being pressed to theclosed position by a spring, so that when a spike has been-driven ashort distance into a tie adjacent thereto.

the holder can be moved from the operative position and the gate will turn on its hinge so as to release the spike. Theholders 19 aresecured upon shaft 18 by set-screws 22,

so that by loosening these screws the holders may be positioned at a greater or'less distance apart, to adapt the apparatus for use with rails having flanges of different widths.

head 27 is adapted to move vertically upon frame 25, being held in position by the guides 26. Pivotally mounted upon the cross-head 27 are two grab-levers 28. These '18\/ '8IS are in the form ofbell-cranks and at one end have a plurality of teeth formed opposite points.

thereon, as shown in Fig. 3. The other ends of the two levers 28 extend between collars 29 upon a piston-rod 30 having a piston thereon adaptedto. reciprocate in a cylinder 31 which is mounted upon the frame 25.

' The means for positioning the rails at the proper distance apart consists of two pairs of gage-arms, the arms of each pair being movable to cause their. ends to grip a rail between them and-move the same to the proper position. A. bracket 32 is secured to one side of the support 6 and is formed to provide bearings-for two short shafts 33. On one'end. of each of these shafts is secured a disk 34, .to which the gage-arms 35 and 36 are pivotally The end of the arm 35 is downwardl turned, so that the ends of the two arms are opposite each other and may grip a rail between them. To each of the isks 34 is secured aweight- 37 which when the disk 34 is released moves it in a direction to separate the endsof the arms 35 and 36.

Formed on eachof the disks 34 is a segmental gear 38, and these: gears mesh with .the teeth of racks formed on opposite sides of a piston-rod 39, the upper end of which carries a piston adapted to reciprocate in a cylinder 40 secured upon the support 6. A

, hanger 54 is pivotally connected at its lower end to each 0 the gage-arms 36, and in each of these hangers are two notches adapted to receive a pin on the end of an 'arm 55 projecting from the side-frame 2. When the hangers are in the position in which they are shown in Fig. 2, the gage-arms 35 and 36 are in the operative position. but by raising the hangers by means of the handles provided upon their upper ends, so that the pins on the arms 55 are received in the lower notches in the hangers, the gagearms 35,

connected at diametrically 36, willbe turned upon their pivots to carry the ends thereof to inoperative position.

Upon one end of the truck is a platform on which is secured an engine-driven aircompressor 41 and an equahzing tank 42,

and a pipe 43 leading from this tank supplies the air to all of' the pneumatical v operated devices. In Fig. 1, the piping to the various cylinders and the valves for controlling the various devices are shown diagrammatically. A pipe 44 branching from the pipe 43 supplies arr to either the upper or the lower end of the cylinder 15, a twoway valve 45 beingconnected in the pipe 44 by means of which either end ofcyhnder 15 may be connected to the supply-pipe 44 and the other-end connected to the exhaustport of the valve. A branch pipe 46 carries air from the pipe 43 to the upper end of the cylinder 40, and in this pipe 18 a valve 47 serving to permit or cut ofi the supply of air.' A pipe 48 carries air from the pipe 43 to a two-way valve 49, from which pipes 50 lead to the u per ends of the cylinders 31, and pipes 51 eadto the lower ends of those cylinders. It will be seen that by operating the valve 49, air may be permitted to flow from the supply-pipe 43 through the pipe 50 to theupper ends of cylinders 31 and exhausted from the lower ends through pipe 51 and the exhaust-port of the valve or may be supplied to the lower ends of cylinders 31 through pipe 51 and exhausted from the upper ends of the cylinders through pipe 50 and the exhaust-port of the valve. A. pipe 52 carries air to the pneumatically o erated hammers 7, and in this pipe is a doub e valve 53 by which the supply of air to either pair of hammers is controlled.

The operation of the apparatus willnow be described. When a pair of rails have been laid in approximate position upon the tles and the ends thereof connected by means of the fish-plates to the ends of the rails prevlously laid, the truck is run onto these rails a short distance. The gage-arms are then operated to position the two rails at the roper distance apart. This is'done by turnmg the valve 47 to the position for admitting air to the upper end of cylinder 40. whereby the piston of that cylinder is moved downwardly and the racks 39 thereof turn the disks 34 in a 'direction to bring the ends of the two pairs of gage-arms together upon opposite sides of a rail and move the two rails to the proper relative positions. The

valve 49 is then operated to admit air through pipe 50 to the upper ends of the cylinders 31 and exhaust it through pipe 51 from the lower ends of those cylinders,

so as to permit the cross-heads 27 and-the grab-levers 28 carried thereby to move vertically downward. Vl hen at the lower limit of this downward movement, the toothed ends of the levers 28 lie on opposite sides rocked in their bearings so' as to carry the holders 19 to inoperative position, in which then'operated to admit air to the lower. end I of cylinder and exhaust it from the upper end, thereby operating the levers 11 to move r they are shown in dotted lines in Fig, 4,

i I spikes may be inserted in the spikes are driven. When the spikes have" those cylinders,

' may then be operated. to of air from the 1 then be moved alongto. a

bottom surfaces of the rails; --'Spik es are then inserted. in the holders 19, and these) spikesare held directly under the-hammers admit a r to the hammers'and the latter are thereb -the spikes are being driven nto f the cylinder 15, 55

' the gage-arms 35 and-36 are held in inoperaesaese of a tie and the valve 49 is then-operated. to reverse the air eonnectionsto, the .cylinders 31, sothat the pistons. thereof are raised, in this'npward movement of the pistons and the rods. 30 thereof, the levers by Letters Patent 1s as-followw 28 are turned on-their pivotsuntil the teeth 1.. In a track laymg apparatus, a support, thereon engage opposite sides of a tie and l, a pneumatically-operated hanuner movable further upward movement of the istons-of' bod-11y, up and w 119011 Said pp cylinders 31 raises the cross-boa s27, the pneumatic means ilor operat ngsaid levers 28;. and the tieheld. by the lovers; until i mer, and means for simultaneously lowering so the tie is drawn into solid con-tact with the said hammer bodily sothasthe hammer will follow a spike duri the drivingoperation to keep the hannner in position for driving 7 the spike, substantially as set forth.

2; In a track-laying a parat-usya support, The valve 45- is a neumaticallyoperate j r movable bogily up and down uponsaid support, pneumatiic means for operating said haniriser, and pneumatically-ope ated means for simultaneously loweri sai hammer bodily so that the hammerw" follow a spike during the driving operation to keepqthe hammen in positionv for dhiving the spike, substantially as set Y Y i 3', In a traclr-layingiapparatus, a support, tvzo pneumatic hmnmers' movable bodily up anddojwn upon-said support at opposite sides of the apparatus, pneumatic means for operating said hammers, and'a singlepneumatically-operated means tor lowering said hammers bodily so that the hammers will follow the spikes. during; the-driving opera tion to keep the hammers in position for. driving the spikes, substantially as setv forth. 4;. A track-laying apparatus comprising a truck provided with wheelsadapted to run on the rails of; the track being laid, a hammer. mountedonthe truek, means for operatlng' the same, and. a spike holder for holding a spike in position under the hammer to spike the rail on. which the truck stands, vsaid holder being movable. during the operation of driving a' spilsebetween operative and inoperative positions, substantially as set faith. k1, v p -15. trac aying apparatus com risi a ,truck provided with wheels adaphe d to i im on the rails of the track being laid, aham-,'- mer mounted on the true means for operating the same, means on the truck for raising and lowcrin the hammemiand a spike holder movab e duringthe' operationof driv ing a' spike from operative to inoperative positions and adapted to hold aspike in positionror' spiking the rail on which the truck stands, substantially as-set forth 6. A traclelaying'apparatus comprising a truck provided with wheels adapted to run on the rails of the track being laid, two pneumatic hammers movable vertically upon said truckatopposite sides thereofl-means for raising; and lowering 7 said hammers bodily,. means for opera-tin the hammers, and a spike-holder for holding a spike in position under each of said hammers for 130 holders. moved to such'positions that the 86 corresponding thereto.

the hammers 7 vertically downward. When 85 thehammers are in contact with\the heads of the spikes, the valves 53 are operated to.

operated to drive the spikes into, theen. the spikes have, been driven into the tie such a distance that they do not require to beheld in position, the" rollers 24 on the cross-heads 9 of the hammers come into contact with the arms 23, and as the cross-heads are lowered the shafts-18 are e spikes being released by the, spring pressed gates of the-holders as from the operative position. in are shown in full lines in Fig. 4.-

they move' which they Thus while the us, new I holders 19. During the entire operation of drivingfthe spikes home-,the tie is held up against the under surfaces of the rails by the. grab-levers 28 and suflicient 5 ressure is maintained within the lower end of cylinder 15 to cause the hammers to move downwardly as the been driven intoposi tion, the valve 49 is operated to exhaustair from the lower ends of cylinders 31 through pipe 51 and admit air through pipe 50,1:0 the upper ends-of so as to operate the grablevers 28 to release the tie. Also, valve, 45- 1s operated to reverse the air connections to thereby operating the levers 11 to raise the hammersi Thevalve' fl' permit the exhaust I I cylinder 40, whereupon theweights 3? willturn the disks 34 in thedirection to cause separation of the ends of the pairsv of gage-arms. The truck may new position for spiking the rail to-another tie. When thetruck is to be moved a considerable distanm,

tive position, in which. they lie above the mounted on the I a spike-holder for each hammer, 4

spiking the rails onwhich the truck stands, fl said spike-holders being movable to operative and inoperative positions,

substantially as set fort 7 In a track-laying apparatus, the com-' bination of a support, two pneumatic hammers movable upon said supportat opposite sides of the apparatus, means for simultaneously raising and lowering said hammers'bodilg including a cylinder, a iston therein an pipes leading-to the cylinder, and a spike-holder for each. of' said ham- 'mers movable to operative and inoperative positions, substantially as set forth.

8-. A track-laving'apparatus consisting of a truck adapted to run on rails, a hammer truck, means" for operating the hammer todrive a spike, means for lowering the hammer bodily as the driving operation progresses, a spike-holder for holding a spike in position. under the hammer, and means for movingfthe holder to inoperative position actuated during the driving operation in lowering the hammer, said holder when so moved releasing thespike to permit it to be driven home, forth. 9.. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of a hammer, 'means for operating the same, means for raising andlowering the hammer bodily, a spike-holder, and means operated as said hammer is lowered bodily for moving said holder to'inoperative position, substantially as set forth. 10. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of a support, pneumatic hammers movable ,upon said support, pneumatlc means for raising and lowering the hammers bodily, and meansfor moving each spike-holder'to inoperative position as its hammer is lowered, substantially as-set forth. v v

, 11.-In a track-laying apparatus, the combination ofa hammer, means foroperating' the same, a spike-holder for holding a spike in position. forthehammer said holder being movable to operative and inoperative "materials employed,

ositions, and means holder to compensate for variations 1n the substantially as set forth...'

12. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of two hammers for driving on opposite sides of a rail, meansfor operating the hammers, two s ike-holders for holdmeans for adjusting said holders toward and away from each other, substantially asset forth;

-13. A track-laying apparatus consisting of a truck adapted to run von parallel guides stationarily mounted upon said truck at opposite sides thereof, a crosshead movable vertically upon each pair of substantially as set for efi'ecting an ad ustment of the operative position of said spikes or the hammers, and' rails, pairs of for operating each pair of grab-hooks and each cross-head,substantially as set forth.

14;. A track-laying apparatus consisting of a truck adapted to. run on rails, pairs of parallel guides stationarily mounted upon said truck at opposite sides thereof, a crosshead vertically movable upon each pair of guides, a pair of grablevers pivotally mounted upon .each cross-head, and means for turning said levers on their pivots to "cause them, to grip a tie land for raising said crossheads to raisethe tie into contact with a ra1l, substantiallyas set forth.

15. In a track-laying apparatus, a pair of vertically-arranged guides, across-head movable-thereon, a pair of grab-levers pivotally mounted on said cross-head, and a pneumatic operating device connected to said grable vers for turning them on their pivots and for raisin the levers and said cross-head, substantially as set forth.

16. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of a support, pneumatic hammers movable thereon, means for raising and lowering'said hammers bodily, means for operating the hammers, and pneumatically operated means for gripping a tie and raising it against a ra1l, substantially as set forth.

- 17. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of a support, pneumatic hammers movable thereon, means for raisin andlowering said hammers bodily, means or operating the hammers, a vertically-movable crosshea-d, grab-levers pivotally mounted thereon,

and pneumatic operating means connected to said levers, substantially as set' forth.

18. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of a support, pneumatic hammers movable thereon, means for raisin ering said hammersbodily, means or operating the hammers, spike-holders for the hammers movable to operative and inoperative positions, and pneumatically-operated means for lifting a tie into contact with a rail, substantially as set forth.

19. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of a support, pneumatic hammers movable thereon at opposite sides of the apparatus, means for raising and lowering said hammers, spike-holders for thehammers. movable from operative to inoperative positions in correspondence with the downward movement of the hammers, verticallymovable cross-heads at op osite. sides of the apparatus, a pair of gra -levcrs pivotally mounted on each cross-head, and a pneumatic operating device connected to each pair of grab-levers, substantially as set forth.

'20. A track-laying apparatus having a pair of gage-arms mounted thereon and means for moving each of said arms toward and away from theother, said arms being and low- Y stantially as set forth.

, gage-arms, a

936,679 53 adapted to engage opposite sides of the same I In a track-laying apparatus, the comrail and move the rail in one direction or the l bination of means for positioning a pair of other to position it upon the ties, substanrails relatively, pneumatically operated tially as set forth. means for lifting atie against a rail, pneu- 21. A track-laying apparatus adapted to l matic hammers, and means for raising and run on rails, having two pairs of gage-arms lowering the hammers, substantially as set mounted thereon and means-for moving both forth. of the arms ofeither of said pairs to cause i 26. In a track-laying'apparatus, the comsaid arms to grip a rail and. move it in either I bination of pneumatlcally-operated gagedirection to position it upon the ties, sub- 1 arms for positioning rails relatively, pneumatically-operated lifting devices for lifting a tie against a rail, pneumatic hammers, and pneumatically-operated means for raising and lowering the hammers, substantially as set forth.

27. In a track-laying apparatus, the combination of a support, means mounted thereon for positioning a pair of rails relatively, pneumatically-operated means for lifting a tie against a rail, pneumatic hammers movable upon said support, means for raising and lowering the hammers, and spike-hold- 22. In a track-laying apparatus, two pairs of gage-arms, and a pneumatic operating device for simultaneously moving the arms of each pair in opposite directions to cause their ends to gri and position a rail, .substantially as set fbrth.

23. In a track-laying apparatus, a pairof pneumatic operating device for moving the arms of each pair relatively to cause them to grip and position a rail, and means for nioving the arms of each pair to separate the ends thereof, substantially asset forth. i i 24;. A track-laying apparatus consisting of a truckadaptedto run on rails, gage-arms mounted on the truck, means for operating said arms to grip and position the rails, and means forsupporting said arms in'inopera- 1 tive positions in-which, they lie above the Witnesses: upper surface of the ,rails, substantlally as J. JOHNSON, set forth. i W. E; DRU'RY.

and inoperative positions, substantially as set forth.

This specification signed and witnessed this 17th day of April, 1908..

RICHARD C. SPANDAU.

era for the hammers movable to operative 

